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Province announces solar rebate program

The province of Alberta announced the creation of a solar installation rebate program on Monday February 27.

Homeowners, businesses and non-profit organizations will be eligible to receive rebates for rooftop solar panels that meet the Residential and Commercial Solar Program requirements as early as this summer, according to a press release issued by the province.

“There’s a lot of buzz in Alberta around small-scale solar,” Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks and Minister Responsible for the Climate Change Office is quoted saying in the press release. “This program will make solar power affordable for more Albertans, leading to new panels on 10,000 Alberta rooftops by 2020. Along the way, we will create jobs and local expertise in an emerging industry.”

Details on the $36 million program – including qualifying systems, installation and eligibility requirements – are to be defined in the coming months. The government is in the process of posting a Request for Proposal in order to identify a third party to deliver the new program in a timely manner.

“The Energy Efficiency Advisory Panel heard that Albertans wanted this program. The Prairies have the best solar resources in Canada, and there are a lot of potential investment opportunities,” David Dodge, Chair of Energy Efficiency Alberta is quoted saying in the release. “This is the first of several programs that will help create jobs and diversify Alberta’s energy economy into clean sources of energy.”

By 2019, the province expects the Residential and Commercial Solar Program to support the creation of 900 jobs in the province’s solar sector, and to cut solar installation costs by up to 30 percent for residences, and 25 percent for businesses and non-profits. It also estimates that the program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the province by about half a million tonnes, the equivalent of taking 100,000 passenger vehicles off of the road.

“Albertans are ready to go solar, with growing demand, a world-class solar resource and an eager and capable solar industry,” Rob Harlan, Executive Director with Solar Energy Society of Alberta is quoted saying. “A sustained government push has been the missing piece for creating local jobs and clean energy in our province.”

The Residential and Commercial Solar Program is a reinvestment of the carbon levy.